BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  SB 56
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   August 17, 2011

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                    SB 56 (Corbett) - As Amended:  June 20, 2011 

          Policy Committee:                             Labor and 
          Employment   Vote:                            4-2

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program: 
          No     Reimbursable:              No

           SUMMARY  

          This bill makes the following changes related to the approval of 
          apprenticeship programs in the building and trade industry: 

          1)Eliminates the requirement in existing law that the Division 
            of Apprenticeship Standards (DAS) randomly audit all approved 
            apprenticeship programs during each five-year period, and 
            replaces it with more targeted auditing requirements focusing 
            on new or newly expanded programs, as well as programs low 
            graduation rates or prior meritorious complaints. 

          2)Requires new or expanding programs to submit a written plan 
            along with application to DAS with the following information: 

             a)   Projected enrollment over the next five years, including 
               information on obtaining adequate facilities.
             b)   Timetable to obtain sufficient commitments from 
               employers to employ the new apprentices, as specified. 
             c)   Recruitment strategy that includes outreach to women and 
               underrepresented minorities. 

          3)Prohibits DAS from approving an application that fails to meet 
            the above requirements.  Further specifies if an application 
            is disapproved, DAS has 90 days to provide the applicant with 
            a detailed explanation of the deficiencies in the application 
            and recommendations to address these issues, as specified.  

          4)Requires programs to provide each apprentice, on at least a 
            semiannual basis, information related to hours of training and 
            instruction completed, the number of hours required for 
            graduation, and the apprentice's expected graduation date.








                                                                  SB 56
                                                                  Page  2


          5)Requires programs to report apprentice registration, change of 
            address, graduation, and termination data to DAS on a monthly 
            basis in an electronic format.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Minor, absorbable costs to DAS to implement this bill.  DAS is 
          currently required to monitor apprenticeship programs; this 
          bill, however, will lead to DAS prioritizing monitoring, which 
          will not have a significant fiscal impact on DAS.  


           COMMENTS  

           1)Background  .  DAS, within the DIR, is responsible for 
            administering California apprenticeship law and enforcing 
            apprenticeship standards for wages, hours, working conditions 
            and the specific skills required for state certification as a 
            journeyperson in an apprenticeable occupation. Current law 
            requires DAS to audit apprenticeship programs every five years 
            to ensure state standards are being met and that apprentices 
            are being safely and appropriately trained.  

            According to the department's 2009 annual apprentice program 
            report, there are 61,736 apprentices registered in over 680 
            programs recognized by DAS. Minorities numbered 32,305, which 
            equals 52.3% of all apprentices. Active women apprentices 
            numbered 4,411, equal to 7.1% of all active apprentices.

            The 2009 annual report also states: "DAS consultants work 
            proactively with program sponsors to assist those programs 
            with low completion rates or difficulty in achieving equal 
            opportunity goals. During the past reporting period, DAS took 
            one formal action in which an apprentice was cancelled and the 
            �program] administrator disagreed with the decision.  

           2)Rationale  . The bill is intended to strengthen oversight of 
            apprenticeship programs. The author and sponsor of the bill 
            believe the bill will streamline and target the auditing 
            procedures, going after the new programs and the poorly 
            performing programs, rather than auditing everyone over a 
            five-year period.

           3)Previous legislation . This bill is similar to SB 1397 








                                                                  SB 56
                                                                  Page  3

            (Corbett) of 2010, which was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger 
            with the following message: 

            "Similar to previous measures I have vetoed, this measure 
            imposes new requirements on new or expanding programs without 
            subjecting existing programs to the same level of scrutiny.  
            Finally, this measure fails to address the impacts of the 
            so-called "needs test" that prevents new apprenticeship 
            programs from being approved if a similar program already 
            exists in the same geographic area."
             
           


           Analysis Prepared by  :    Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916) 
          319-2081